Friday, February 27, 2015

Subtitled as "The Big Unofficial Lego Builder's Book", this is a third party book about building Lego City creations. It's full of instructions, parts lists, and pictures. The breakdown is as follows: pages 1-19 = Intro, SNOT, Tips & Techniques; pages 20-239 = Midi-Scale; and pages 240-400 = Minifig Scale. So, about 57% of this book is aimed at a usable scale for MFZ.

What the authors call Midi-Scale looks to be about 5P Scale in MFZ terms as the representations of people are five plates tall. This is one of the lesser used scales but I think that the items these instructions build will still help to flesh out a gaming table. There are 24 vehicle instructions, 4 of which are construction vehicles, 1 is a plane, 1 is a helicopter, and 3 are trains. There are instructions for two different types of trees. Instructions for a house with two different types of roof and two different types of floor design. And there's instructions for a Department Store that covers 32 x 16 studs and is 23 bricks, 1 plate tall. Each set of instructions has a little introduction blurb that also gives a tip or trick concerning building. There are also plenty of pictures between the instructions that show alternate builds and things that haven't been included in the instructions.

There are only five sets of instructions in the Minifig Scale section, all of which are vehicles. There may be some techniques that can be adapted to other scales but all I've done so far is glance through this section.

Price is about $24.99 depending on the source. With only -- roughly -- 33 sets of instructions and not all of them relevant to MFZ I can't really recommend this book. A lot of the instructions in the Midi-Scale section are just variations on the base car design. I've seen similar complaints about this book elsewhere. Maybe if they put in some different instructions and reduced the size of the instructions themselves they could have fit a little more variety in the book.

There's something similar happening on the Hangar at the moment, although it doesn't actually involve any games of MFZ -- that I'm aware of. Four different frame designs, Twanks, Clankers, Twanzers, and Squibs, are being pushed by four different creators, Atavism, Skrob, Lorc, and FragsturBait respectively. It's fun and interesting to see these people go at it -- and in the process weave a story -- without anything being contested on the table.

If anyone in the MFZ community knows of something similar that isn't posted on one of the big three social media spots -- the Hangar, the G+ group, or the Facebook page -- I'd like to hear about it.

Friday, February 20, 2015

This was one of the two polybags Target had in their Valentine's Day section this year.

Bag. Was available for $3.49 at Target.
This gives us a $0.07 Price per Piece.

Instructions.

Minifig. You all know how I feel about these.

Parts. The first thing that catches my eye

-- and the whole reason I bought this set -- is

the new piece. The two 2x2x1 Round Brick

w/Technic Holes have me thinking of some

pretty interesting uses. It also has two of its

bigger brother, a few SNOT pieces, and some

of the fiddly bits we all like.

Build. Another IO Frigate. I managed to work in the minifig
head and helmet. I'm thinking 2Ra/2Y/1G/2W for stats.

The Questions:

Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away? Yes. (+5)Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio? Below. (+5) (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away? Yes. (+5)Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts? Yes. (+5)Score: +20 (A+). It's sad when the City polybags are more affordable than the regular sets.

Monday, February 9, 2015

Bag. This can be found in the checkout aisles for
$3.99. That gives us a Price per Piece of $0.07.

Instructions.

Parts. A lot of plates, but also a fair amount of Click Hinge Plates, 1x2 Plates w/Bar (closed ends), Jumpers, and a couple Clip Plates. There's also a fair amount of Boat Bumpers, and some interesting Slope pieces.

Build. Could be an IO Frigate or HVA. There are plenty of attachment points

for armament, sensors, or defenses.

The Questions:

Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away? Yes. (+5)Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio? Below. (+5) (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away? Yes. (+5)Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts? Yes. (+5)Score: +20 (A+). There have been a lot of good, affordable Star Wars polybags lately. This continues the trend.

Parts. Not really a lot here. The wedge tiles are nice, as are
the Studless Inverted Slopes. The Fin Tile is pretty neat too.

Build. An IO Frigate. Not that great,

though I think that two sets together might make something interesting.

The Questions:Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship-- right away? Yes. (+5)Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio? Above. (-10) (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away? Yes. (+5)Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts? No. (-5)Score: -5 (B-). The parts count and the price really killed the score on this. The clearance price changes the score to +10 (A-).

Wednesday, February 4, 2015

If people were on the fence about this line, now might be the time to decide as they've gone on Clearance at my local Toys'R'Us at 1/2 off. My local Kmart also has them on Clearance at $3.

Bag. MSRP is 28 pieces for $3.99. Which is $0.14 per piece. Not good. I picked this up on sale which brought the Price per Piece down to $0.07.

Instructions.

Parts. Clip Tiles! The 1x2 Cheese Slopes w/Plate are interesting, as are the 1x1-1x1 Brackets. The 1x2 Angled Cheese Slopes are neat as is the "roll cage" piece in the upper right. The 1x2 Cheese Slope with the print on it should come in handy for marking Pirate vehicles.

Build. Another IO Frigate. I

know, but they're just so easy.

The Questions:

Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away? Yes. (+5)Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio? Above. (-10) (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away? Yes. (+5)Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts? No. (-5)Score: -5 (B-). The parts count and the price really killed the score on this. The clearance price changes the score to +10 (A-).

Parts. Six brackets -- four 1x2-1x2, two 1x1-1x1 -- four angled tiles, a couple 1x3 Bent Plates, a couple of Wedge Tile Plates, and a handful of Studless Slopes are what sticks out to me. The axels and central plate of the car are the same color as the last set I reviewed. I wonder if that holds true for the entire line?

Build. It could be an IO Frigate or HVA depending

on which way it's facing. I really like this one.

The Questions:Can you build something -- a frame, station, or starship -- right away? Yes. (+5)Is it below, at, or above the golden ratio? Above. (-10) (The Golden Ratio is $0.10 per part.)If you can't build a frame right away, or choose not to, does it have parts you should be able to put into use right away? Yes. (+5)Does it have more than a handful of immediately useful parts? No. (-5)Score: B- (-5). Not bad for a licensed set, but not that great either. If you buy this on sale like I did, the score becomes B+ (+5).